(Dow Jones) -- Monsanto Co. said its fiscal second-quarter earnings grew 13% as the agribusiness giant reported continued strength in its soybean seed sales as well as improved margins.

Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, closed its $930 million acquisition of farm-analytics company Climate Corp. late last year, a deal that enables Monsanto to offer tools including individualized weather statistics, part of a yearslong effort by Monsanto to expand its range of services to farmers to improve their crop yields.

Such "precision farming" technology already has started to change how some farmers operate, and has attracted the interest of rivals ...